Touch Kobo Touch Firmware 2.0

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by kumaryu

Most emphatically yes.

[...]

In this respect, ebook readers are like cars. You can customise a car if you are a competent mechanic to be exactly the machine of your dreams. If you do so however, you will invalidate any warranty or support that you might have gotten from the manufacturers.

The fact that the current Kobo readers are amenable to to such customisations does not mean that their business can survive if all their customers did this. As with cars however, most customers are not willing or comfortable in taking the risks as outlined above.

As in the case of custom cars, this ought not be an issue.

Originally Posted by Danger

@kumaryu... WOW.... I honestly can't say what I am thinking for fear of getting permanently kicked off this forum...

Why, Danger? There's nothing wrong with what Kumaryu is saying. If I understand correctly, the messages just says Kobo has been kind enough to make it possible for people who know what they're doing to get rid of things they don't like. That leaves people who don't know what they're doing to help keep Kobo alive... so what? Life isn't fair. So what?

Originally Posted by VirgoGirl

The way I see it is this: if you want me to buy your books, make them (significantly) cheaper than paper books. Don't charge me $12 plus tax for something you don't have to print on paper, bind with glue, store in a warehouse or on a shelf in store and pay overhead to keep. Why on earth would I pay that $12 when all you're doing sticking it on a server and handing out copies? Particularly when often the paperback is $5 or $9.

VirgoGirl, that's *exactly* what I've always thought. It's so pathetic! eBooks are worth next to nothing! Sure, the rights and blah blah, but they've got to be cheaper than paper, glue, transport, storage, stores, staff... The ridiculous price is why I never buy eBooks but download them illegally. It's so stupid... I'd buy them ALL the time if they'd be reasonably priced! They could earn so much more with lower priced eBooks. Then again, if eBooks were significantly cheaper than paper books, eventually no-one would buy paper books any more and publishers/book stores would have a problem. But hey, that's the direction we're going in anyway... Cheaper eBooks please!

Originally Posted by Jaden

People hated the carousel because it introduced advertising to a formerly ad-free device.
They switched to shortlist to avoid the ads.
They became used to the shortlist being on the homescreen.
Now it's gone.
"People be mad."
End of story.

I didn't just hate the carousel for the advertising. I also hated it for taking up so much space. 1.9.14 had such a lovely home screen, nice and clean. Sure, I was OK with the carousel after the short list could just sit there, but I never ever used it (5 book covers is more than enough for me). So I might have got used to the carousel but I'm immensely happy it is gone again! I understand it's not handy for people who used it regularly for reference documents (maps and images and whatnot), but I think there might be more people who will be happy with a less cramped home screen than people who will be sad at losing instant access to the short list. Having said that, the short list should be more easily accessible than somewhere down the alphabetical list of shelves... But I'm sure Kobo will fix that with something creative once they realise how many people use and love the short list.

Originally Posted by The Terminator

Why can't you just be happy?

Indeed. All over this thread and any other thread related to KT 2.0, that's what I keep thinking. So much negativity! I even read on one of these threads that some people are unhappy about how little communication we're getting from Kobo... I mean come on! They were HERE, they read the problems, they acted IMMEDIATELY, they told us they're working on the problem, they even explained some extra things (e.g. why the clock disappeared), gave us instructions on what to do if the update messed our KT up... All on a forum not related to Kobo I might add! If you ask me, they're brilliant! They've told us they're working on it, now all we have to do is be patient until they find and fix the problem. Personally I prefer them to work hard on that, instead of updating us every ten seconds with similar news...

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by mXb

Instead of forcing feeding us the updates why don't Kobo "offer" the updates.

They used to offer direct links to the .zip files - I thought that was a great way to have the customers keep the "version" they wanted the best.

Now, they no longer seem to do that, and while I respect their decision, I wish they would go back to doing it.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Tasmin

Indeed. All over this thread and any other thread related to KT 2.0, that's what I keep thinking. So much negativity!

We humans always strive for what we consider to be better.

If someone takes something away from us that we liked, we are unhappy. Also if something is not as good as it was supposed to be...

At first I was quite happy with the new update. I was excited. Then the problems began.

Slow page turns, book cover bug, dictionary bug, crappy sideloaded fonts, shortlist gone from the homescreen and menu, add to/remove from shortlist menu entry gone... I don't care that much about the clock, but yeah, that's another thing that was better before...

If 2.0 would at least work the way it is supposed to (with fast page turns, dictionary working correctly) I could live with the shortlist being buried (until they hopefully fix it) - also the clock and yeah, even the cover bug and sideloaded fonts bug (until those get fixed).

I'm just trying to see what annoys people and how it could be changed for the better for all of us - including Kobo (because I'm sure that annoying customers was not intended and is is not going to earn them money).

All in all I like the direction of this update. Once the problems are fixed, it will be fantastic.

[kaikara]

Originally Posted by Tasmin

VirgoGirl, that's *exactly* what I've always thought. It's so pathetic! eBooks are worth next to nothing! Sure, the rights and blah blah, but they've got to be cheaper than paper, glue, transport, storage, stores, staff... The ridiculous price is why I never buy eBooks but download them illegally. It's so stupid... I'd buy them ALL the time if they'd be reasonably priced! They could earn so much more with lower priced eBooks. Then again, if eBooks were significantly cheaper than paper books, eventually no-one would buy paper books any more and publishers/book stores would have a problem. But hey, that's the direction we're going in anyway... Cheaper eBooks please!

Here is a good article on the cost of paper vs ebooks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/bu...pagewanted=all

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by kaikara

Here is a good article on the cost of paper vs ebooks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/bu...pagewanted=all

"good" only if you believe the figures quoted.

[Mrs_Often]

Thanks for the link Kaikara. Indeed an interesting article. Though it's over two years old and I have no idea where or how they got their numbers... To give them the benefit of the doubt:

Okay, slightly more money goes into making eBooks than I realised, but it still sort of confirms what I said. Forgetting the cover design, typesetting, copy-editing, author royalties and marketing for a second (which all apply to both print and eBook), $13 goes to the publisher for a hardcover book of $26. To me, that means eBooks can be at least $13 cheaper than hardcovers when they first come out. I don't really understand all the figures they throw around for the eBooks, that's just a bunch of agreements and nonsense to me. And then they say this:

Another reason publishers want to avoid lower e-book prices is that print booksellers like Barnes & Noble, Borders and independents across the country would be unable to compete. As more consumers buy electronic readers and become comfortable with reading digitally, if the e-books are priced much lower than the print editions, no one but the aficionados and collectors will want to buy paper books.

“If you want bookstores to stay alive, then you want to slow down this movement to e-books,” said Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, a consultant to publishers. “The simplest way to slow down e-books is not to make them too cheap.”

Ppffft. So yep, they like to keep eBooks expensive so we'll keep buying paper books. Sigh.

[ltr]

Originally Posted by volpo

I've been trying to come up with a reason that so many 'identical' devices react so differently to these 'updates'. The only thing that I can come up with is (and I have absolutely no knowledge that this is true) that the manufacturer is not making identical devices............

No, it's not a device hardware issue. It's the multitude of different ways people use the device with respect to kepub, epub, sideloaded books, calibre, special plug-ins, hacked firmware, etc, etc.

This open system (that Kobo generously allows) is problematic when releasing firmware updates. They simply can't account for all the variations.

ltr

[VirgoGirl]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

"good" only if you believe the figures quoted.

Having read the article, what I'm left with is not a justification for the high price of ebooks, but the arrogance of the publishing community - "If we don't price ebooks higher, no one will buy books anymore."

[plib]

Originally Posted by Suzanna

Mountain ... molehill.

Apologist ... (blind) mole.

[plib]

Originally Posted by Tasmin

Why, Danger? There's nothing wrong with what Kumaryu is saying. If I understand correctly, the messages just says Kobo has been kind enough to make it possible for people who know what they're doing to get rid of things they don't like. That leaves people who don't know what they're doing to help keep Kobo alive... so what? Life isn't fair. So what?

I do hope you're not in any customer facing, decision making role in any business, particularly Kobo. Although Kobo does seem to employ some kindred spirits.

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by plib

Apologist ... (blind) mole.

Really? It's a good thing I don't take internet overreactions seriously.

[plib]

Originally Posted by Suzanna

Really? It's a good thing I don't take internet overreactions seriously.

If you consider that an overreaction then you've led a very sheltered life.

[VirgoGirl]

Originally Posted by plib

I do hope you're not in any customer facing, decision making role in any business, particularly Kobo. Although Kobo does seem to employ some kindred spirits.

LOL!!

Hmm, I'm thinking some of this thread may be getting out of hand. Although I think maybe applying "Life isn't fair" is maybe a bit harsh here, *chuckle*. That I can't have a body like Angelina Jolie after my having had 4 kids warrants a "life is not fair", that I would like to be able to have no advertising as someone who knows enough how to hack their KT warrants a "yeah, it's a pity we can't all figure out what tweaks to make", then we all go down to the local bar and have a pool duel, loser buys drinks.

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by plib

I do hope you're not in any customer facing, decision making role in any business, particularly Kobo. Although Kobo does seem to employ some kindred spirits.

LOL!

No, I'm in science research. But, I would NEVER say 'life isn't fair, deal with it' if I were in any of the roles you describe. I was merely defending Kumaryu and trying to point out that there's a lot of screaming and shouting going on here...

[Danger]

hmmm yes we have definately seemed to have gotten off topic. Now we just have to sit back and see what Kobo does with our, uh, critique.